


Before The Night (Harry Potter, Marauders Era)

by shadow_preachers



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Baby Harry, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I do not own Harry Potter, I'm Sorry, James Potter Needs a Hug, Jily is an underrated ship, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sectumsempra, Severus Snape Bashing, Trans Character, original minor trans character, the evil JKR does, this may not do well but i am in love with the marauders/their era so screw it, this was going to be a one-shot, trans rights are human rights, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25719409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_preachers/pseuds/shadow_preachers
Summary: We've heard tales of the infamous Marauders during their collective times at Hogwarts. But one story not told quite enough- the story of James and Lily themselves. Starting in their seventh year, when a certain fellow student decides to curse young James Potter, and thankfully, his girlfriend Lily Evans is there to help.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	1. Sectumsempra

**Author's Note:**

> Hello-! shadow_preachers here. This idea popped into my head and I fell in love with it- so I began to write a one-shot! But rather quickly, it became clear to my brain that it couldn't be just that. So here is the first chapter! Hope you enjoy!

"Expelliarmus!" shouted one James Potter at his known enemy as Severus Snape raised his wand at him. Both James and Snape were in a heated argument outside of the Quidditch Pitch, when the first wand was pulled.   
"What were you going to do, Snivellus? Hex the Head Boy? Are you that thick?" James questioned, keeping his wand steadily pointed at the aforementioned seventeen year-old. Snape sneered, "someone had better! Or else you might turn into even more of a prick, if that's possible."   
Just as the messy-haired teen was about to retaliate, the conversation was cut off by a higher pitched shout. "JAMES! What in Merlin's name are you doing?" James paled, realizing from an outside perspective, he didn't look too decent.  
"Lily! It's not what it looks like- the git was about to hex me. All I did was rid him of his wand" 

"I see Evans wears the pants in that disgusting relationship, doesn't she, Potter?" Snape said, scowling at the two of them. James shot a warning look at him and readjusted his wand, "shut it, Snivellus, before I actually hex you myself." Snape finally looked resigned to not speaking and closed his mouth in a tight line. James turned his attention back to Lily, keeping his wand trained at Snape. "James, we are Head Boy and Girl now, I can't have you causing scenes like this!" she reprimanded. James looked almost offended, "I wasn't causing anything! HE cornered ME after practice. Honestly, have some faith?" without much care, he slightly lowered his wand, more worried about his conversation with his girlfriend than hexing his enemy. "Well then you walk away, it's not that hard now that you're more MATURE, right??" Lily retorted. James almost let himself look hurt before continuing, "don't you remember what he called you Lils? Why would you defend him in this situation?" Lily scoffed. "I am hardly defending him. And I do not need to be reminded what he called me, Potter, trust me, I remember!" she shockingly paused to take a breath, "now, if you are done having this vocal-duel with Severus, I would appreciate it if you could remember we are supposed to host a Prefects' meeting!"

With that, Lily turned and began to storm off, James staring after her helplessly. No one saw Snape pick his wand off the ground, and no one had time to react as he pointed it at James, who turned back with wide eyes at the sound of a foreign spell. "Sectumsempra!" Snape shouted. It was then that Lily stopped in her tracks and turned around to see what had happened, her eyes widened.

The moment the spell hit him, James felt like his breath had been knocked clean out of him. He looked up at Snape's triumphant face with a rather shocked expression of his own, before looking down at his torso. The thick, dark red liquid quickly rushed through James's shirt and soaked his robes, pooling on the ground where he soon fell. He heard his name called in a piercing scream that he recognized as Lily's, and soon enough he saw her fall to her knees next to him looking horrified. The pain raced through his body and his breathing came out in short, desperate gasps. What was happening?  
"SNAPE! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Lily yelled, completely panicked. She sat back on her legs and gently lifted James's head onto her lap. "James, love, you're okay, it'll be okay," she looked back up at Snape, "GO! Get Madame Pomfrey, you git!" To his own surprise, Snape listened, and ran off to find the medi-witch. 

James felt like he was on fire and looked down to find blood covering his body, felt it running down his face and chest. He heard a chorus of "oh Merlin" and a few swears he never thought he'd hear from Lily's mouth before his hearing turned into one constant ringing note. After what seemed like ages of fighting for consciousness for Lily's sake, James saw Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Sirius, and a few other worried-looking wizards come into his sight before blacking out. 

~

It was two hours later when James finally woke up. Lily, Sirius, and Remus all occupied the chairs at his bedside, Peter hovered by them nervously, and Madame Pomfrey was back and forth from her office gathering potions, to his bed-table.   
James felt his hand being tightly held and opened his eyes to find Lily with the most upset look on her face he had seen in a long time. It was Sirius who first noticed he was awake, "Prongs! Oh great Merlin, you're awake!" All four teens looked at him and simultaneously sighed in relief. "I a-" he tried to respond, but found his throat to be rather hoarse. Lily looked like she could cry, and Remus rushed to get James water from the bed-table. With his mouth and throat less like sandpaper, James spoke again, "thanks. What happened to me? I know it was Snivellus, and I know there was blood... and blood.. but what spell could even do that?"   
They all looked uncomfortable for a moment, until Sirius cleared his throat. "Well, mate, we don't really know. All we know is that slimy, greasy, son of a motherf-" Madame Pomfrey walked in then and glared at Sirius, "anyways. He is with Dumbledore right now, hopefully getting expelled." 

James looked to Madame Pomfrey, "what's the damage?" She looked around at his friends and back at him, to which he nodded, "you can tell them anything you tell me, Madame Pomfrey." With a sigh of resignation, she finally spoke up. "Well, Mr. Potter, there were numerous very deep lacerations across your body, and a few gashes on your face. I was able to fully heal your face rather quickly, but the rest will take some time seeing as I don't really know what kind of magic caused this." She almost looked disappointed to add the last part. "So, he won't be playing Quidditch, will he?" Peter asked the question James didn't want to. Pomfrey shook her head and said, "I'm afraid he won't, Mr. Pettigrew, not anytime soon."

They all nodded sadly, dreading the next couple of matches without Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain. The solemn silence was brought to an end when Madame Pomfrey clapped her hands together. "Alright now, time for you all to clear out. Dinner is well past over, and so is curfew." The Marauders all began protesting, but she just held up her hand to quiet them. It was Remus who still spoke, "but Madame Pomfrey, we can't leave him just yet, what if something else goes wrong?"   
"Then I will send for you in the morning, Remus. No more discussions! I tire easily from seeing you four in the Hospital Wing so much already, don't make me ban you three until next moon." With little grumbling, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all got up and said their goodbyes to James, stalking sulkily out into the darkness of the halls. Madame Pomfrey looked expectantly at Lily, who looked back to her pleadingly, "I'm not in here nearly as much, and I don't ask for anything or break rules. Please, Madame Pomfrey, let me stay with him?" A good minute passed of the medi-witch clearly struggling to find reason for Lily not to stay, until, "oh, alright, if you must. Just don't be as destructive as those not-so-little miscreants." Pomfrey said fondly, before turning and walking into her own private office.

Lily turned back to James and squeezed his hand once more. He smiled at the red-head, but noticed she still looked very upset. "Lily," James began gently, "what's bothering you, love?"   
"It's just- oh James, this is all my fault, isn't it?" Lily looked devastated, and James knew he had to fix that. "No! Of course not, how could this have been your fault? Sni- Snape was the one who did this, Lils, not you." 

"Yes he cast the curse, but I could have stopped it. If I hadn't argued with you, maybe if I just grabbed you and left Severus there? What if I-" James had to cut her stammering off, so he carefully put his other hand over hers. "Shh, Lily, no, this is not on you. Don't feel guilty, Lils, it's just as you and I said. Snape cast that curse, not you. And look! I'm alive and with you now, am I not?" Lily smiled sadly at him, "of course you're right.. But I can't help feeling guilty. You shouldn't have to be in hospital, missing tomorrow's game and very possibly the next. This is seventh year, James, you should be living it."   
James could see how guilt-ridden she was, and now knew the only way to fix it was to wait for it to pass. All he could do now was heal and prove to her he was alright. So he pulled the top corner of the bedding upwards, and motioned for her to join him. Slowly and carefully, Lily slid under the covers next to James. "I'm so glad you're alright.." she whispered before beginning to drift into unconsciousness. The two quickly fell asleep, content to be where they were. 

~

The pain potions must have been the culprit for James' ability to speak properly the night before, seeing as now that he had woken up in the morning light, the simple task of breathing was even barely achievable. Lily woke soon enough, and almost panicked when she heard James gasping for air yet again. Madame Pomfrey appeared at his side after Lily went to get her, and gave him two more sour tasting potions to take. Both he kept down for about three minutes before he painfully threw them up, much to his current company's dismay. James was aware the two women beside him were trying to speak calmly to him, but he couldn't hear their pleas much over the horrid sound of his own coughing and dry heaving. After what felt like hours to the teen- but was actually a few long minutes- the nausea left him, the coughing stopped, and all James was left with was the pain of his ribs and wounds having been stretched during the fit. The doors loudly burst open as he was being settled back on the pillows, and Madame Pomfrey looked like she was going to have a stroke way too young. Two pairs of feet ran up to them, and a gasp was heard.

"You look right dreadful, mate!" Sirius said, only to get elbowed in the side by Remus. Lily spoke in the absence of James being able to, "he does not, he looks perfect as always. Just an added curse this time is all. And before you ask, he can't talk as well right now. There were some difficulties just a second ago." Lily somehow managed to look terrified for James, and still elegant and beautiful as ever all at once. Remus paled at her words. "He got worse? How much worse? Is he okay?" Lily seemed like she was going to answer, but James instead looked at his two friends questioningly. They of course knew what he was asking, Sirius answered, "Pete said he would come down in a bit. He said he had something to do, and when we pressed him further he said he urgently needed a book from the library. We're guessing he's seeing his secret girlfriend or something." James nodded, accepting this probability. Any future conversation on the topic was cut off by James's coughing fit coming back to him. With each deep cough came a sharp wince as his desperately-trying-to-heal wounds worsened. 

It took even longer for James to control his breathing than it did last time, and he was quickly winded. Sirius, Remus, and especially Lily, had expressions of fear and guilt on their faces when he looked back to them. James waved his hand dismissively as if to say he was fine and they shouldn't worry. This did nothing to remove the look from Lily's face, but he couldn't really blame her. Madame Pomfrey returned from her office with a stronger-smelling potion, and almost instantly after taking it, James's vision went black.


	2. Roberts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James thankfully leaves the Hospital Wing with help from Lily. He's on his feet in a day, when he finds a crying student whom he's compelled to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 40 hits! So soon, wow thank you dears! I hope chapter two is enjoyed as well! Disclaimer is in the tags! Have fun reading~ shadow_preachers

Eventually, James woke up once more that day, in much less pain than before. To his surprise, Lily wasn't at his side, but Madame Pomfrey was. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter. Your injuries should certainly feel improved, yes?" James shocked himself when he replied with a "yes". "Ah good, your throat has greatly softened as well, it seems." Later in the day, Lily returned with a bit of a run. Apparently, Pomfrey had forced her to leave the Hospital Wing and get rest. 

She was extremely relieved to see James up and almost about. The medi-witch told him he could go back to his dorm in an hour. So he and Lily sat on the Hospital Wing bed, Lily catching James up with what he 'missed', as if he had been gone for a week, not a day. "The others really wanted to come and see you, but Madame Pomfrey thought it would be best to just have the closest few of us- I'm guessing she didn't want to overwhelm you. And today's lessons I heard were fairly easy, so we haven't got much to catch up on." Lily went on a bit longer, taking up most of James's remaining time there. James however, mostly just sat and stared at her as she talked, listening intently and almost looking awe-struck by her as usual. However, soon enough a thought interrupted his state of reverie, and he had to ask Lily, "Lils, love, while I love talking with you about all of this, I wanted to know, what happened with Snape?"   
Lily slightly cringed at his question, and looked hesitant to answer at first. "As far as I know, he has a month's detention and got a hundred-fifty points taken from Slytherin," James looked pissed, "although I know he MUST be getting a lot of backlash for losing points in his House, at least." James still looked pissed. "That's it? Detention and lost house points? Snivellus cast some unknown curse at me that for all we know could've killed me, and he gets 'way with simple detention?" Lily shrugged sympathetically in response, also not thinking his punishment severe enough. But perhaps she felt a bit biased. "I promise you, his house is probably patting him on the back now for almost murdering the Head Boy who happens to be a Gryffindor. That's so unfair!" 

She grabbed his hand again now, and reassured, "I know, James, it's really not fair. Although, don't forget, we are Head Boy and Girl. As much as I myself would love to transfigure Severus Snape into an old Quidditch uniform sock, I can't. I know you can be the bigger person and walk away. Focus on your own recovery, yes?" 

James nodded. HE knew she was right- but he so wished she wasn't. Madame Pomfrey re-emerged from her office to give him a bottle of pain-relieving potion and a jar of scarring salve she usually had on hand for Remus. Once he had collected his things properly, he and Lily walked back to the Common Room- well. More like Lily walked and half dragged, half helped James there. Most of Gryffindor house was there waiting, and bombarded James with questions about what had happened. The school was certainly a rather gossip-y place when it came to student drama (except really for Hufflepuff, they had enough to worry about without the drama), so some of the different variations of the story that had been floating around were just insane. One group had heard he pissed off the Giant Squid, another heard it was Filch finally snapping after a rather mean prank. On the worse side, some heard he had been pitched off the Astronomy Tower by Lily herself after an argument- to which Lily scowled at. James could only deny all of those theories, and disappoint them all when he told the actual story. Eventually Sirius, Remus, and Peter came out of their dormitory, and parted the crowd to get to their friends. "Alright ya great tossers, you've heard the story, now shove off!" Sirius could be heard saying quite loudly. To James's surprise, "move! Shoo! What're you all hanging round for? Give the Head Boy some peace, great Merlin!" was spoken by Remus. The three marauders reached James with equally enthusiastic smiles, before gently grabbing his arms and walking him away from Lily. 

Her exasperated muttering could be heard throughout the Common Room, but nonetheless, she followed behind them all the way up to the four boys' dormitory. They all sat down, James and Lily on his bed, Sirius and Remus on Sirius's, and Peter on his own. "So mates, were you just dying of boredom without me?" James asked, miming flipping his hair. Lily leaned against his shoulder. "Yes, at least I was," Peter said, gesturing to Remus and Sirius, "they however were getting unbearable and it was only one evening!" Sirius scoffed incredulously. "Unbearable, Wormtail? Now that's just cruel, Moony is completely bearable!" Peter looked to James pleadingly, "please don't get under any other Slytherin's skin this year. You're the sane one in the group now that you've got Evans." 

James smiled at that and looked to Lily, "well he is right about that, isn't he?" Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't you start, James. You haven't got me at all. You were just lucky enough that you matured rather decently." There was a comfortable silence that fell between the group. Regular banter was something that they considered a gift these days. It was over far too quickly.

Sirius's face took a rather serious expression then, which one of the boys would have made a joke about had he not looked so grave. "What is it, mate?" James asked him. "Well- the war, for one. Voldemort is recruiting from Hogwarts, that much is clear. Snivellus had to have learned that curse from somewhere, right?" Lily almost jumped to Snape's defense then, but then looked thoughtful. Everyone else held breath, not wanting to say anything too bad about their enemy until they heard Lily's stance. 

"I wouldn't be surprised," all the boys looked at her like she was a total stranger, "alright, hear me out. Sev- Snape. Snape. He obviously doesn't think too highly of Muggleborns. He did before school, but if that trait or value was something he picked up during school, who's to say he didn't pick up more of Voldemort's values? If he's willing to say something so vile to someone he used to be friends with, and curse James in the way he did, how can we assume that he's NOT joining the Death Eaters? It would make sense, with who he chooses to associate with." It was the Marauders' turn to look thoughtful. Lily had made a perfect argument. "I agree, Lily. And not just because I hate him." 

Another, more uncomfortable, silence fell on the group. Remus eventually cleared his throat. "The world has certainly changed for the worst. We have a war on our hands, and no way to help."

~

The next day, with the help of some potions, James felt significantly better. Still sore, of course, but he hardly noticed the dull pain of his wounds as he walked the halls of Hogwarts, doing his morning rounds. Lily desperately wanted to take the morning to study, and was not looking forward to spending her time on rounds. So James just told her to stay in Gryffindor Tower and revise. After all, really, only one Head Boy or Girl was necessary for the morning. Lily looked like she could fall over from relief, to which James could never understand. What good is revising when there's a war right outside the walls of Hogwarts? He wasn't too worried about his NEWTs. He'd find a stable job with or without the help of his scores. 

As James turned the corner into the next hallway, in front of the library, he heard sniffling. He furrowed his brows in confusion and curiosity took over as he began to search for the source. There, on a window ledge, hidden ever-so-slightly by a stone pillar, sat a student. Upon further inspection, James deduced the student to be a girl from the uniform, she had medium length blonde hair, and was hiding her face in her knees which were being held close to her body by her arms. "Um, hello?" James addressed her, to which she jumped and looked up at him. It was obvious she had been crying for some time. He could now see she had hazel colored eyes and looked about fourteen or fifteen. She looked so startled by him, so he held his hands up in a sort of surrender. "Didn't mean to freak you out. What are you doing out here so early? The sun has just barely woken and the Great Hall isn't even open yet." The student glanced at his Head Boy badge before speaking, "sorry. I've been here for awhile," she quickly dried her face of the tears that were still falling.

James felt an odd bit of sympathy- had it been an older Slytherin, or anyone else, he likely would have taken points for being out of their Common Room too early, and sent them on their merry way. But Hufflepuffs never really did anything to him, so he didn't have any strong desire to treat this one as such. James shocked himself as he heard himself ask, "what's wrong?" 

"I can't tell you. I don't even know you." said the student, looking away from him, but not looking quite ready to end the conversation. Even James knew sometimes someone just needs to rant, so he took a seat a couple feet away from her, and leaned against the wall. "I'm James Potter. Seventh year Head Boy. You?" There was a pause, before, "...Tabitha Roberts. Fourth year." James nodded. "Alright, Roberts. Well now we know each other. What's bothering you?" She sighed deeply, "I'm going to take a big risk here and assume you won't do anything stupid- seeing as you are Head Boy and seem like an okay bloke," James nodded once more, encouraging Tabitha to keep speaking. 

"Well. I'm not really Tabitha.. I'm Simon. Simon Roberts."

James's expression went from neutral to completely confused rather fast. "I'm sorry- what?" he inquired. "Just from looking at me, you'd assume I'm a girl, right? Well I'm not." Poor James was still at a loss. "I'll explain.. I was born a girl, but I'm really not a girl at all, you see? My actual name is Simon, to me that is. I told one of my closest friends this, she's in my House, and she acted like I was some kind of demon that was out to kill her or something. It's bad enough having to have long hair and wear a girl's uniform, but now I've lost my best friend.." James took a deep breath before trying to respond, "I see.. So, you're actually a bloke?" Simon nodded. "Alright- I'm not sure I understand, but thinking about it, that would suck to go through, I'm sure...?" James thought extremely carefully about what he would say. "I'll admit, I'm at a bit of a loss, Simon. I don't know you all too well, I don't know your situation, but what if you just cut your hair? Used a charm or something? That might help some, I'd guess?" Simon's face lit up at that, but fell soon after. "That's a good idea and all, but I don't know any charms like that." 

The Head Boy snapped his fingers after a bit of thought, making Simon jump. "I've got it! Diffindo. That's a severing charm. To be fair, it's very hard to master and a lot can go wrong with it, but many seventh years in Gryffindor, including myself, have used it." That got the Hufflepuff boy's face to rise in spirit again. "D'you think you could help me? Even just shorter than this would be satisfactory!" It didn't take much convincing before James found himself remembering the rules and wand movements of Diffindo. Soon enough, Simon had a short haircut. No longer did it drape around his shoulders- Sirius would be appalled- but it was much shorter. Almost like a pixie style. "That's the best I can do, mate" James finally said, before using another spell to rid the floor of the fallen hair. Just this small act had Simon grinning ear to ear. "Potter, it's perfect!" James also smiled- mostly in relief. "Well, blimey, I'm glad!" The Hufflepuff couldn't find enough ways to thank him, but eventually James realized he had little time to complete his rounds. With a parting warning to be careful with who Simon trusts with his secret, the Hufflepuff was headed back to his Common Room. James felt happy to see such a big weight leaving Simon's shoulders as he practically buzzed with glee away. 

As he finished his rounds, James wondered if there were more students like Simon- all just too afraid to say anything. He knew he was lucky to have found Simon before someone else did. There was no way the rest of the school would be nearly as forgiving towards him. James felt he would never understand, but that was okay. At the very least, he would try. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there was chapter two! I had to bring Simon into this story, even if he's not a main character. Screw JKR, there were 1000% closeted trans students. And I'm here to make sure that's known. Thank you so much for reading, loves! Don't forget to leave a comment and/or kudos if you enjoy this story, it really helps your fellow author know if their writing is pleasing to an audience *:)


	3. Curses and charms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James isn't getting by too well, with or without the helpful potions, and is still being badly affected by the curse- what does this mean?  
> McGonagall has an interesting announcement to give the Gryffindors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back~ thank you for reading this story, loves! I'm actually getting to be quite proud of it so far :)  
> Enjoy chapter 3 -shadow_preachers

Classes flew by for most of the students. Except for the Marauders. James had begun to feel sick in the third class of the day, and wouldn't even eat at lunch. Lily was worried as well, but James would just wave his friend's and girlfriend's concerns away, saying he'd be fine soon enough. And he was right- to them, that is. By the time dinner came around, the animagus was distressingly getting worse. 'Like an idiot', as he imagined Lily would say, James left his potions in the dormitory, so there was no hope for respite during the day. At one point even Frank Longbottom threatened to carry him to the Hospital Wing, and that's when James knew he needed to stop letting his friends how bad he felt. So now he sat with them at the Gryffindor table during dinner, laughing at some joke Alice made that everyone seemed to enjoy. The joke itself was silenced to James by the ringing in his ears. He felt his breathing start to accelerate, and very subtly gripped his robes in a tight fist. 'Keep it together, Potter'. Something else felt off. Was someone watching him? Upon investigation of this theory, James found that someone was in fact watching him. Snape. From across the Hall, at the Slytherin table, James saw him smirking as he stared, obviously noticing his troubles. He looked far too triumphant with himself for the pain he had put James in. The Head Boy in question sent a quick yet sharp scowl his way before turning back to his friends.

After dinner had ended, the walk back to the dorms felt like it took hours to James. A few first years, from both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stopped him along the way, as they had forgotten either their password, or the way to their Common Room. Once all of that was sorted, James spotted Simon Roberts on another staircase, and nodded his way.  
Not to mention James and Lily had rounds later that night, so all of this slowing down felt like torture.   
He finally found himself climbing up the stairs to his dorm. As the Marauders talked, James snuck his scar salve jar and a pain potion bottle into his robes pocket, and escaped to the washroom.   
With some struggling, James opened the potion and downed it quickly.   
It tasted like death, but that was exactly how James felt so he couldn't really complain. The way Snape looked at him.. 'what is he up to?'. He walked up to the sinks and took off his house robe and sweater. After he removed those, it became clear what the problem was. Long jagged lines of blood had bled through his shirt around his torso, even through the layer of bandages Madame Pomfrey had set in place. "Damn it.." James muttered, grabbing his wand out of his robes pocket to try and fix it, although he was interrupted. "What the hell, James?" The teenager in question looked up at the mirror in front of him to see Sirius standing behind him. He hadn't even hear the door open, let alone close.

Sirius rushed over to him, eyeing him like he was going to fall over any second. The two animagi stared at each other for a couple minutes before, wordlessly, Sirius reached over and unbuttoned James's, now red, shirt. James didn't bother making him stop, he knew for a fact Sirius would bite his head off just for not telling him in the first place.

"You're an idiot, mate," he stepped back and gave him a pointed look, "why didn't you tell anyone? It's been like this all day, hasn't it? We need Madame Pomfrey, don't we?" James frantically shook his head at that. "Okay well then, I'll go get Evans," as Sirius turned to walk out, James grabbed his arm and brought him back around to face forwards. "No! Sirius, please, you can't tell Lily. She has enough to worry about. It's already hard for her to focus on revising when there's a war raging around us, mate. And her studies are so important to her." Now it was Sirius who shook his head. "YOU'RE important to her, Prongs."   
"Yes, I know, exactly. Don't tell her. I can't afford to burden her, Pads. Please?" James only ever said please when plotting some kind of scheme, and not wanting to get on the professor's bad sides.  
Sighing heavily, Sirius finally nodded. "Fine. But you are not fixing this- literally- bloody problem by yourself. We'll charm the blood out of your shirt and try to do something similar to those gashes, yes?"

Eventually, blood cleaned, lots of scar salve on, re-bandaged, and completely dressed again, James met Lily in the Common Room, and they began their nightly rounds.

As they were walking, James had a thought. "Lils?" She responded with a small 'hm?'. "So this morning, I met a student." Lily nodded for him to continue. "And this student- a Hufflepuff- was just absolutely a mess. Not to sound insensitive, but he was beside himself, I'd worried for a moment he'd gone mental, right?" Lily looked concerned at this, but let James keep talking, "although, he didn't look like a he. He looked like a girl. But he told me he was a girl when he was born, but he's a boy. I wanted to ask you about this, because I'd not heard of this in the Wizarding World before. Does this exist in the muggle world?" Once James finished his story, Lily looked shocked when she responded, "he must've been a muggleborn then- James, that is something I believe I've read about in a Muggle newspaper article. It's extremely frowned upon even with muggles. Petunia spoke of a kid once in her school, who was basically chased out by the teachers for being that way." She appeared deep in thought. "The full word has something to do with gender. But I'm not the person to speak on it. Wait- how'd you react to him telling you this?"

At this point they had stopped walking, and Lily turned to James with a worried expression for what must have been the fiftieth time in the past two days. James suddenly was petrified he reacted the wrong way that morning. "Oh, I helped him cut his hair! That's one of the things he mentioned was bothering him, and it was fairly long, right? So I used Diffindo- and mnd you, it doesn't look too boyish, I didn't want to give him trouble with other people because I figured that's not necessarily what other would consider-" Lily cut him off by placing a finger in front of his lips, "okay, okay!" she smiled, "you're fine, you git. I just wanted to make sure you weren't rude to that poor boy, or pranked him or something!" 

James looked mock-alarmed and gasped. "Me? No, never! What could ever make you think that, love?" Lily looked at him fondly, "idiot."   
"Idiot? I am no idiot, why would you love me if I was an idiot?"   
"Your idiocy, James Potter, is one of the many reasons I'm in love with you." Lily stood high on her toes to kiss James, who's thoughts of worry about the war, worry about Simon, pain, everything, completely left his mind. These were moments he would not soon forget.

~

Once he got back, James came into a dark dormitory. Figuring the rest of the group was asleep, the Head Boy got changed and ready for sleep, gingerly climbed under his bed covers, and closed the curtains on his four-poster.  
Soon enough, however, those same curtains were opened, and two shadowy figures crawled onto James's bed, startling him out of whatever form of sleep he had managed thus far. He pushed himself up on his elbows. "Oh bloody hell. What in Merlin's name-" he was cut off by the sound of Remus casting Lumos and Silencio, and the entire bed was lit with the light from his wand. Now James could see the two intruders- Remus and Sirius. "Mates, what is this all about?" he asked groggily, not willing to participate in this conversation fully awake just yet. It was Remus who spoke first, "why did you not go back to Madame Pomfrey?" James groaned and looked at Sirius then, "so I see you told him, mate, didn't you?" Sirius shrugged. "It's Moony, I had to tell him. Besides you know he's freakishly good at- well. Everything. Pete still doesn't know- he IS a little thick, that one. Gotta love Wormtail, but still, he-" 

"Alright, I think he gets it, Pads!" Remus said, exasperated. 

"Anyways, Prongs. How bad is it?" James felt the strong urge to answer with a form of Marauderish sarcasm, but one look at Remus's concerned face stopped him in his tracks. With a deep sigh, he told him about how badly he had been bleeding, the cloudiness in his head, all of it. The worried expression never once wavered from Remus. Once he finished telling him what he assumed Sirius hadn't yet, Remus nodded. "Alright then. If it gets any worse than this, you NEED to go see Pomfrey- don't roll your eyes- she knows what she's doing and you could just go when Lily is busy revising or something. Merlin, I'll drag you there myself at that point." 

James nodded, resigned to the probability of that happening. "Okay mate, I will, I will. If it gets worse, I swear I'll go to Pomfrey. But until then, don't waste your time worrying unnecessarily, Moony. You either, Padfoot. I have potions and other things for a reason, right?"   
They carried on the conversation with a light banter, James both happy for the distraction and exhausted because he'd waited too long to sleep. Finally, once their talking had fallen into silence, James fell back onto his bed again and slowly rolled onto his front, "now piss off, lads, I have rounds early morning and I can't do those if I'm still asleep. Go shag or somethin', if you're still awake enough" At his last comment, two hands hit him on the back of his head before he felt them get up and remove the charms.

~

The whole Common Room was buzzing with conversation. Every Gryffindor student was piled somewhere throughout the whole room, most of the first years were forced to sit on the stairs to save space. It was an interesting sight, which included Sirius, Remus, and Peter piled practically on top of each other on a couch cushion. James was the only Marauder not in the odd mess of limbs, but sitting next to Lily on the couch. An owl came to inform the two of them that morning that their rounds were canceled, and McGonagall was coming to give an announcement to Gryffindor House. So instead of rounds, James and Lily spent their morning rounding up all of the students until the portrait opened, revealing their Head of House. 

Chattering quickly drew to an end, and the room fell silent as McGonagall stepped in. "Good morning, Gryffindors. Before you head off to breakfast, I have an important announcement so thank you to Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter for getting everyone here on time." Lily smiled at the recognition, "now as you are all aware, and this is a very serious topic, there is a rather serious battle going on outside of Hogwarts. Now Professor Dumbledore has asked me to inform all of you who may not have known, it is no secret that this Dark Wizard who calls himself Voldemort has been trying to recruit students at Hogwarts," a few first years gasped then, "and any suspicious activity inside the School, we ask that you report it to your Head Boy, Girl, Headmaster, or Head of House. Now this is the message I have also been asked to pass along by the Ministry. Any seventh year interested in joining the Aurors upon graduation should see myself or Headmaster Dumbledore immediately. Thank you for your attention, enjoy your morning, students." And with that, she turned on her heel and promptly left Gryffindor Tower. Some of the younger years began speaking to their friends again, but all of the older ones stayed silent. They were well aware of what this meant.

The Ministry never recruited from inside of Hogwarts for Aurors. They were getting desperate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooo~ suspense. Okay but can we appreciate how cute James and Lily are? I am literally in love with those two, together and apart, and so I hope I am doing them justice so far!  
> Don't forget to review or leave a kudos if you'd like! Your support means the world to me, thank you, loves!


	4. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot- where's Prongs?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following a discussion from the Marauders, rounds become a little too interesting, and the full moon is just around the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! 100+ hits! That's so amazing, thank you for reading, loves! I really hope this chapter is more than satisfactory- sorry, it's a little mean! -shadow_preachers

"I should do it. I should become an Auror."

That sentence was spoken during a rather difficult conversation with the Marauders in their dorm after classes that Friday. The words had come from Sirius. "Mate, why? You hate the Ministry, anyways, why would you want to work for them?" asked James. Sirius looked down, suddenly finding his hands interesting. "Because. They aren't doing a damn thing to protect anyone, the Death Eater attacks have gotten so much worse. Maybe if I could get in on what their so-called 'plans' are, I could adjust accordingly. If it keeps people safe, why not?" Remus, who was looking decently rough due to the full moon the next night, grabbed his hands from where he sat next to him, "yes but, Pads, wouldn't you be... fighting against some of your family?" Sirius nodded, he'd been having this mental battle with himself for hours and already decided he 'didn't care'. "Ahem," Peter drew the attention to him, "I don't think that's smart. HE has been targeting family of the Aurors as well, especially muggles or muggleborns. Obviously he can't attack your immediate family," "ex-family" Sirius cut in to add. "Right, sorry Padfoot, ex-family, because they're on his side. But he could very well attack us or our families!" 

James threw his hands up in the air, "okay well, Pete, hate to break it to you, but he very well could do that anyways, Aurors or not. Nobody is completely safe from Voldemort or his followers, maybe being an Auror though, would add a small bit of protection." Peter shook his head in response. "No, fighting fire with fire doesn't do any good, you shouldn't join the Ministry. There has to be some other way!"   
Now it was Sirius's turn. "There IS no other way, Peter! How much of a coward are you that you can't even agree we need to fight back against him?" Peter started sinking back, basically egging Sirius on, "oh yeah, and him, what's his name? VOLDEMORT. Say his damn name, it won't kill you!" Remus and James started voicing their objections to this fight and Sirius stopped. "Alright, alright, mates! That's enough. Padfoot, Wormtail may have a point," James said, which made Peter bring himself back into the conversation with interest, "maybe becoming Aurors isn't the way to do it. We can still fight back, but putting your name on that contract is like putting a target on your back. My dad said so himself. We'll- figure something out, right?" Shockingly being the voice of reason, they all stopped to think about James's words. It was true, if you join the Aurors, you really are just adding your name to a kind of hit-list. "Well, I can't work for the Ministry regardless, so fighting back any other way, I'm all for." added Remus. 

"Well it's settled then," said Sirius, "we'll find some other way. No one joins the Ministry." Eventually they realized it was just about time for dinner, but before all of them had gone, Sirius held Peter back.

~

Walking? Walking is shit, James quickly assessed as they headed back to Gryffindor Tower from the Great Hall. Lily was walking with him, so he was determined to not let his annoyance at walking- or even standing- show, though he was beginning to feel like Remus did every month. Luckily there was no tension between the Marauders during dinner. Peter was exceptionally Peter-ish again, thanks to the apology James was sure Sirius issued after the argument. They all knew Sirius meant well, he was just incredibly touchy about the subject of the war, or even just when the full moon was near. Both he and Remus spent the week of the full moon counting down the days to it, and preparing for it. They all cared, of course, but Sirius in particular was obviously the most worried each month. It didn't even matter that they had become animagi, and were fully capable of keeping their Moony safe every transition, Sirius still worried. 

But where were his thoughts again? Ah yes, walking. James had planned to fix his bandages and take a few potions before rounds, however, he knew he was supposed to have felt better by now, and if Lily figured out he still didn't, he was sure she'd worry and take him to the Hospital Wing. That didn't change the fact that every step he took brought pain, that was slowly increasing. 

Once he and Lily were back perusing the halls of the school, James knew he couldn't keep on like this. "Hey, Lils, what if we split up? We could get done faster, and just meet up back at the Common Room and hang out!" Lily looked hesitant, before smiling at him and nodding, "alright, we can do that. You finish this section here, I'll head that way." James didn't even see where she gestured, but he was just relieved she agreed. When she was out of his sight, James stumbled towards the wall next to him, his vision blurry. Gasping once again, he grabs for his side when it elicits a sharp, stabbing pain. His eyes blur even further with unwanted tears, but James can't be bothered to dry them, nobody's around anyways. 'Why in Merlin's bloody name is this still a problem?' the dark-haired teen wondered. Didn't Madame Pomfrey fix him up? 

James suddenly jerked his head upwards, right after hearing a low chuckle come from in front of him. He hadn't even realized someone had walked his way. "Pain too much to bear, is it, Potter?" Snape. James groaned at the rough sound of his nemesis's voice. Why did he have to annoy him still? Blinking his eyes rapidly, he could see the now-clear form of Snape, almost hidden in a dark cloak. Wait- "is this- what have you done, Snivellus?" James asked tiredly, struggling to stay standing. Snape made a 'tsk tsk' sound and shuffled slightly on his feet before replying. "I don't know what you're talking about. I did nothing. In fact, I was never here- unless you want my friends to find their merry way to Petti-over-grew or Moon-freak and set them right." Threatening now, eh? James knew Snape didn't care to mention Sirius or Lily. He obviously still cared somewhat for Lily- to James' contempt- and he knew damn well that Sirius could look out for himself. Remus could, too... well. He had full moon days to think about. And James was entirely aware that his messy-haired, chubbier friend was a bit useless in defensive spells. So the threat held some weight, but not on James' watch. "Screw you, Snivellus. Nothing will happen to them when Sirius and I are around. You have nothing, and I'm reporting you to the Headmaster." James sneered back, picked himself off the wall, and began turning to walk in the direction of Dumbledore's office when his arm was seized tightly and he was shoved back against the hard stone. To his disgust, Snape's face was right in front of his, but James lost the will to fight back. "You'd do well to heed my warning, Potter. I know all about your pathetic group's weaknesses, including a certain problem with the moon, as you know," he pressed the weak Head Boy further back, his shoulder-blades now digging into the curves of the stone, "and unlike our peers, I am not afraid of your sad little pranks. I have connections. One word from me? Your friends might find themselves in some trouble, yes?" James did his best to glare daggers at his enemy. "Good, your brain is capable of comprehending something. So as far as you know- I have nothing to do with the latest developments in your injuries. Don't forget that, Potter." Snape finally released his grip on James, who proceeded to slide down the wall. 

Although it was incredibly out of character for James, he just couldn't bring himself to hex that snake as he walked away. Sure, he gave Snape a hard time. But clearly, he deserved it. Although- James felt he ran into another set of issues. Were Snape's friends.. Death Eaters? If that was the case, and it felt quite likely to James, then he could not risk it.   
James fought hard to keep his eyes open, but as the pain overtook him, he met the familiar darkness again. It was starting to feel like a peaceful thing. 

~

Lily's route was clear for the most part. She only caught one couple snogging in a window bend. Why they chose to be totally out in the open, when there were perfectly good broom cupboards? Lily would never know- James was to blame for this train of thought, right? Of course, with the mandatory 25 points each taken from their House, Slytherin, for being out of their Common Room past curfew, the two were sent on their way back to the dungeons. Lily shook her head at the thought of being so dim-witted, when they were in the same House, as she climbed through the portrait hole. To her surprise, Lily didn't see James in the Common Room. She had him take the halls they were already going through so it would take him less time than her, and yet, he was nowhere to be found. Figuring James had probably run into some insubordinate first years, Lily took her revision notes out of her bag, sat by the fire, and began working. 

As more time passed, the redhead's worry just grew when Sirius appeared on the stairs, asking where James was at. "I.. I don't know. He was still out doing rounds when I came back, so I started revising." Sirius's brows rose in shock, "Evans, it's far beyond the regular time it usually takes. I almost assumed you two went to shag or something," he dodged a soaring quill, "but if that's not the case, James is far too late." 

In mere minutes, with the kinda-sorta-stolen-from-James'-trunk invisibility cloak, Sirius and Lily were out searching for the Head Boy. Lily had pointed out that they didn't really need the cloak, seeing as she is the Head Girl, but Sirius insisted- he wasn't sure if his friend was just setting up a prank or something. And if that was the case, Sirius figured James would be in a rotten mood if he and Lily got him caught.   
Lily lead them down corridor after corridor, until they reached the one she left James in. Despite Sirius's objections, she pulled the cloak off of them. "Okay so, we should head down here first. This is where we split up," Lily pulled her wand from her robes and cast Lumos in the dark corridor, "so he should be- oh, Merlin!" Sirius snapped his head where the girl held her gaze, to find his best friend crumpled against the bottom of the stone wall.

The two conscious teens knelt in front of James' fallen figure, and Lily quickly checked for a pulse. She should have been counting the number of times she has sighed in relief for James's sake this year alone, because this was yet another time when she found a pulse. The relief slowly faded away at the sight of red continuously seeping through his white shirt again. Without another thought, Sirius picked the injured teen up, holding him as tightly as possible so as to not drop him. "Let's go, Lily, Hospital Wing"

~

"He was just.. lying there?" Peter asked quietly. Madame Pomfrey kicked Lily and Sirius out not too long after they appeared with James again, so the two went back to Gryffindor Tower. Now, Lily and the remaining Marauders sat in their dorm. No one in Gryffindor really cared or questioned why Lily had gone into their dorm- they likely saw that James wasn't with them and put two-in-two together. So Peter sat on his four-poster, Lily on James's, Remus and Sirius on Remus's. None of them felt like they could get any sleep, so they all sat glumly, Sirius and Lily recalling what happened.

"Yeah, Pete. He was. It was a bit disturbing.." sighed Sirius.

Remus wrapped a shaky arm around the animagus' shoulders. "Well you did the right thing, taking him to Madame Pomfrey, Pads. You too, Lily," he said, looking up at Lily who gave him a nod in acknowledgement. She clearly was still upset. 

They all sat in silence for some time. Until Lily took a deep breath before addressing the Marauders, "why was he still bleeding from the curse? Do any of you know? Madame Pomfrey said he was pretty much healed, he just had a couple precautions." Lily was almost amused when they all shrugged seemingly simultaneously. "I don't think he was fully healed- possibly." Sirius uttered guiltily. Though it was clear all the occupants in the room felt guilty for not noticing. "Well yes, but maybe he was just aggravating his wounds unnecessarily. There are many factors here to consider. No one is to blame except for Snape." Remus said, ever the voice of reason, which they were all thankful for. Silence once again fell on the group until Peter gasped, drawing their attention to him. "Wait! What about the full moon tomorrow? Will he be better by then?" That seemed to be a very valid question- "he'd better! Moony needs all of us there!" Sirius half-yelled. "Sirius, I'm sure it'll be alright if he isn't there just for a night." Remus tried, to which Lily was ready to counter. "But, Remus- you had told me about the one time Sirius wasn't there on the full moon. Things got quite.. Scary for you, didn't they?"

"Well sure, but, that was Sirius. The wolf is well aware just how- important Sirius is to me. Of course James is too, but Padfoot is my- well the wolf's mate. Could it really get that bad when Prongs isn't there?" Now it was Sirius's turn to wrap his arm around the werewolf. "Well let's just wait, and hope that it doesn't come to that, yes?" 

~

When James came to, his first instinct was to check his surroundings- he was safe, in the Hospital Wing. Though even there, he was beginning to question the very idea of safety. Snape had managed to get to him as he was merely completing rounds, who's to say he wouldn't try and finish James off in the night? Now that may be irrational thinking. However, why risk it? He desperately wanted to tell Dumbledore about Snape's endeavors, but he threatened his friends. James would not risk the possibility of him sticking to his word, either. Sure, James could deal with Snivellus' antics, but Remus on a weaker day and Peter? The thought of Snivellus getting his greasy hands anywhere near them made his blood boil- which just irritated his gashes. So no, James would not go to Dumbledore. Not just yet- of course, once he found some inevitable weakness in Snape's threat, he would turn him in immediately. 

With that problem mentally settled, James took another look at his surroundings and found no light shining through the Wing's windows, it must still be nighttime. Just then, before James could close his eyes and drift back to sleep, the doors to the large room slowly creaked open. Nobody walked in, but the doors still closed gently behind the invisible figure. Despite itself, footsteps could be heard padding over to James' side, and he knew it was one of his friends.

"Hello?" James said, looking toward where he last heard the figure. He must've startled them, for the invisibility cloak slipped off of the figures' head to reveal none other than Peter Pettigrew. "Merlin, Prongs! Didn't know you were awake!" the teen whispered to his friend. "Well now you do, what're you doing here, Pete?" James implored with genuine curiosity. Peter shook his head incredulously, "well someone had to check on you, mate! Remus obviously can't, he's too ill, and Sirius refuses to leave his side- you know how he is. Evans, the poor thing, exhausted herself with all the crying and eventually we had to get her friends to bring her to her dormitory. So that leaves me- reckon it's a bit disappointing.." James had been nodding through what his friend was telling him, his heart aching for Lily, and quickly shook his head in disapproval at Peter's last sentence. "No, you git, not disappointing at all! I'm glad you're here, shove off with that nonsense." That brought a smile onto the boy's face. "Well alright, if you say so, Prongs! Anyways, I'm here for a reason. How- are you? What d'you remember?"

James noted the more serious tone Peter's voice took, which happened so rarely that it caught both boys off guard. 

"I'm sure Lily has already filled you in on the most prominent details," James thought long and hard about what he could say before coming up with a convincing-enough lie, "all I remember is as I was walking through the corridor, started to get dizzy, and passed out." Peter, luckily, was easily trusting of his friend's somewhat fabricated story.   
However, suddenly, the sandy-haired boy's eyes lit up in remembrance. "Oh! Right! James??" he very quickly spluttered.  
"What, Wormtail? Spit it out, mate." James added, seeing the panic rise in Peter's eyes. "What about tomorrow? Will you be better tomorrow-? For Moony's... problem? He needs the full pack!" With his friend's words, realization dawned on James. "Great Merlin, I don't know!" If the ever-painful gashes did not heal, there was certainly no way James could expect to transform. And that was a scary thought indeed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took quite awhile to upload- please, put down your wands, I'm still here! Life got pretty hectic, in some good ways, some bad.  
> But let me know what your thoughts are! What do you think Snape is up to? What do you think will happen?  
> Don't forget to comment if you'd like! See you again soon~


End file.
